CHENNAI: IT is the last home game of their AFC Cup group stage campaign and Chennaiyin FC will be hoping to make the advantage count when they face Bangladeshi club Dhaka Abahani at The Arena stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Given both Chennaiyin and Dhaka top the group with four points each (the former is ahead on goal difference), the winners of this encounter will be favourites to qualify for the latter part of the tournament. “Dhaka will be a big test but the boys have trained well and are 100 per cent focussed for what will be our last home game of the group stage,” said Chennaiyin coach John Gregory. “It can be a challenge to maintain motivation with such gaps between games, but credit to the boys, they have been great professionals with some fantastic work rate. Defensively, we’ve become more resolute.”
Given that Dhaka were held to a draw away by Minerva Punjab in their last game, Chennaiyin will fancy their chances. After a rusty start to the campaign against Minerva, Gregory’s men finally sparked to life with a 2-0 victory over Nepal’s Manang Marshyangdi Club. They have had a good two weeks to rest and recover from a gruelling schedule that required them to balance AFC Cup matches with the Super Cup.
Dhaka have a string of players who will be familiar to Indian fans. Their Haitian midfielder Kervens Belfort used to play for Kerala Blasters, Jamshedpur FC and Gokulam Kerala while their Brazilian midfielder Wellington Priori has featured for both NorthEast United and Jamshedpur FC. Masih Saighani, their Afghan defender, has appeared for Aizawl FC in the I-League.
Both teams have concerns over key players. While the hosts will be missing the services of their Brazilian midfielder Raphael Augusto, Dhaka’s Nigerian striker Sunday Chizoba is doubtful for the clash.
This is the third time that Dhaka will feature in the AFC Cup and they have regularly run into Indian clubs. In 2017, they found themselves in the same group with Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan while the very next year, they ran into Bengaluru FC and Aizawl FC. They have had some degree of success against Indian clubs, beating Bengaluru FC 2-0 at home in 2017 and Aizawl 3-0 away last year.
There is another curious link between the two teams. Chennaiyin’s assistant coach Syed Sabir Pasha turned out for Dhaka for two seasons in 1999 and 2000.